MODULAR TRAINING CONCEPT
INTRODUCTION
The concept of modular training is not new. It has been known for many years in a variety of industries in developed countries under various guises such as the “brick” concept, the “block” concept and “training by stages”. The concept has also be known to, and applied by, the hotel and catering industry on various training schemes and programmes.
The idea in its simplest form is based on the identification of tasks in a given sphere of operations and the selection and clustering of numbers of tasks to form jobs. However, for training purposes, the gap between the identified tasks and the job performance is wide and the need of trainers and trainees require considerable supplementary information.
Previous versions of the concept were, naturally, geared to the needs of the countries where they are developed and were not necessarily employment orientated. They were also integrated into traditional vocational training systems rather then standing on their own as training media.
When the International Labour Office (ILO) enter the field and undertook the study the development of modular training, the concept has began to be recognised as universal. Since ILO’s vocational training activities are mostly concerned with developing countries, with their acute shortage of trained nationals, its aim was to provide a system which, without regard for consideration of time, would lead to the acquisition of employable skills.
The major differences between ILO’s concept of the system and previous developments are:
- universality
- employability
- restructuring of traditional curriculum development processes.
The ILO although recognised the value of the previous developments, knows that the introduction of such a system will involve a long transitional period.
After several years of work on the general concept, the ILO brought together a team of four experts for a short period in Geneva to work out a modular vocational training system for hotel industry personnel.
The material that follows is the result of the project. It involves a task analysis of five sectors with the relevant skills, knowledge, attitudes and some examples of Modules of Employable skills (MES)
LIMITATIONS
The work of the project is subject to certain limitations and should be regarded as a signpost on the road to further development of the application of MES to hotel and catering training. For instance, each task defined needs to be further supplemented by a training package, which can be of modest dimensions and depends on the requirements of the instructor.
The work is confined to selected spheres of operation (sectors) i.e.:
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Kitchen
- Front office
- Housekeeping department
To avoid confusion, it was decided to expand front office operations to include the tasks of the uniformed staff and to treat the bar as a separate sector from the restaurant making five main sectors in all. A sixth “sector” is included showing tasks common to two or more sectors. It is realized that this excludes sectors concerned with the important function of control, budgeting, costing, maintenance, marketing, personnel, storekeeping and general administration.
The areas selected for task identification have certain priority elements:
-
They are particular to the hospitality industry and consequently are unlikely to appear in other training material (whereas functions such as “maintenance “ and “personnel” are common to other industries and may be the subject of training material in other work being undertaken by the ILO)
- They comprise the area of the hotel and catering industry to which most training directed, particularly in developing countries
However, despite being confined to certain sectors at this stage, the principles (of task analysis, etc.) used here can be adapted and applied to other sectors as the concept is further developed.
SUBJECTIVITY
While every care was taken it is possible that there are few aspects that were emphasized more than others. The nature of the work allows itself to the correction or elimination of such subjective biases without physically affecting the total balance.
IMPORTANCE OF THE TASK
As you will see later, the task is the basic unit and everything else supports it. Every attempt is made to be practical in approach, to use simple jargon-free language, and to bear in mind the target population.